Amusement
by Holli-chan
Summary: Mello announces that he and Matt are going on a date to an amusement park. Near is forced to come as a third wheel by Roger, but the boys plan to make the best of it. Full of jumpy tents, Go Karts, DDR, and other "activities". MattxMello; M 2 b safe


Mello was always the type to be serious and over-ambitious in everything he did. This meant that, here at Wammys, he was over-ambition for the most important thing in the orphanage - namely, the rankings. The succession of L - it took brains, it took guts, and most of all, it took hard work. And that's what Mello did - work hard. He worked his skinny leather-decked ass off every day for that prize, and he never once got it, always second to the little albino genius, Near. Mello doesn't take loosing easily though - he kept fighting for that number one spot nonstop, biting at the bit for the name of "the best."

Often, this meant spending entire weekends and even month-off's studying, diving into a million different books and reading them a thousand times over, ignoring the entire world around him - including the redheaded nerd he happened to room with. Namely, Matt.

Now, Matt had came to expect this kind of treatment, and he was fine with it. He knew by now that Mello's studies were not something to be messed with, and even though he would happily spend every single moment of this weekend with the wild blonde, he was content just being in the room with him, even if he was being completely ignored. Happy to spend his weekend between playing video games and staring at Mello while he studied.

(If this seems like a stalker-ish kind of thing to do, that's because it is.)

So need less to say Matt was surprised when Mello showed up to announce they were going to an amusement park, he was more than a little surprised.

"_Amusement Park?" _Matt asked in disbelief, eyes widening slightly as he looked up from his game, dropping the controller and not bothering to save; his concentration was betters used to focus on the blonde standing above him, who was looking particularly irritated at the moment. "I didn't even know we _had _an amusement park near Wammys…"

Mello shrugged his shoulders as if it weren't a big deal, but Matt could see the sheepish, slightly embarrassed light in his blue eyes. "Yeah, it's not really big. No roller costars or anything, more of a play land or arcade or something," the blonde replied a bit regretfully, shrugging his slender shoulders again. The shrugging - too - much thing was a sign of nervousness, Matt knew, though you wouldn't know it from the casual expression on his face.

Mello had always been an excellent actor.

"Oh. Um. Why?" Matt stammered, pressing his finger on the off button of the TV, still slightly in shock at the outburst. Wasn't there a test in three weeks that Mello was suppose to be studying too early for?

The blonde scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, shooting Matt a slightly irritated, hurt look. "I just thought we'd do something together, god. Is it really that much of a shock that I want to spend time with you?" he retorted a bit too defensively, a slight blush trying to fight it's way onto the blonde's cheeks. Matt blinked, surprised.

Matt couldn't help thinking, _Yeah, it kind of is. _He didn't say that though, seeing the irritated look in Mello's icy gaze and flashing him a nervous smile.

"N-no! Not at all!" Matt replied hastily, "Err I mean… I thought you'd be studying! But if you want to go out, then awesome! I'd love that." It was true - now that Matt was over the initial shock, he was thrilled to be getting out of the orphanage with the blonde. He was like a puppy standing there, Mello had to notice, practically wagging his tail as he bounced to his feet, a huge toothy grin on his face.

"_Baka_…" Mello muttered under his breath, but the redhead didn't take it seriously, since the comment was accompanied by a relieved little smile. _Idiot._

"Don't insult me in other languages, _Arschloch_!" Matt cried. _Asshole._ Matt winked to show he was teasing, only to have to quickly dodged a playful punch that was aimed at his forehead, the blonde's fist barely brushing the red hairs on his head.

"I _do _know German, _Cabron_!" Mello retorted shaking his head. _Bastard._

Matt smirked. "Whatever, _Salope_," he replied in a faux-sweet voice. _Bitch. _

They did this all the time, the cuss-each-other-out-in-different-languages game. It tended to be the first words the two ever bothered to learn in language classes, and they knew a _lot _of languages.

"Hah. _baise toi_, Matt, seriously," Mello growled, throwing another playful slap his way. _Fuck you. _Matt didn't dodge this time, instead grabbing the other's hand in his and squeezing it, green eyes dancing with teasing playfulness.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you, _Truie_-chan?" the redhead replied a bit flintily, fluttering his eyelashes in faux-innocence. _Slut._

Mello scoffed. "_Zamel_." _Faggot. _

Matt's eyes danced, leaning forward a little bit with a curly smirk on his face, making Mello blush slightly, trying to wriggle his hand free from the other's grip. "Well you should know… _anta kalbtee_…" he whispered, breath brushing Mello's ear as he did, the smirk widening on his face. _You're my bitch._

"_N'exagre pas_!" _Don't push it! _Matt screeched in flustered anger, delivering an angry little bite to Matt's hand. The redhead yelped and jumped back, though the bite really wasn't that painful at all. Matt snickered at the sight of Mello once he looked up - the blonde's face was pink with blush now, scowling at the other boy.

"But you _are_ a _sooka ebnataya_-" _fucked whore _"-it's not a lie," Matt dared to continue, but his voice was more teasing now. This won him the prize of a flip-flop in the face.

"_Inta shaz_." _You're a pervert._ Matt grinned, picking up the flip-flop and winging it back at the blonde, but Mello only caught it and tossed it to the floor. "Enough of the bilingual insults, do you want to go on the date or not?" Mello snapped, but though his tone was cold and irritated his eyes were warm and humored.

Matt's eyes glimmered happily from behind his goggles. "Of course I want to go," he replied gently, shooting the blonde a practically sparkling smile, his next words barely a whisper, "_Te Amo_…" _I love you…_

The blonde haired boy paused in his tantrum like stalk, mouth half-open in what was undoubtedly on it's way to making a skillful retort, blue eyes glassy with surprise for a moment. Matt couldn't help but let his smile widen when the blonde blushed, gaze averting from his own to stare at his shoes.

"D-don't flatter me in other languages either, idiot," Mello muttered after a second, shooting a glare at the redhead and spinning around, flipping his hair over his shoulder in attempt to regain his usual grace. Matt chuckled but let the falter slide without comment. "Get ready then. Look decent."

"Heh. I'll try," Matt replied cheerfully, getting to his feet. Mello quirked one eyebrow upwards, eyes scanning the other boy. The redhead was in his usual attire - goggles, striped shirt, loose-fitting jeans, and some scuffed up converse, hair messy and sticking up everywhere.

"No, you won't try, you'll _do_," Mello insisted, putting his hands on his hips in a slightly overly-feminine way as he leant forward, meeting eyes with goggled eyes. "I'm dressing you."

And dress Matt he did.

In the end, the redhead had to admit he looked pretty nice. Through the scalp-pain-inducing hair brushing assaults Mello did, his hair had been tamed for once to fall nicely on his head, bangs barely brushing over his eyes and not sticking up quite as much. His striped shirt had been replaced by another, tighter fitting one, black and white, fitting his frame better than his usual baggy one. Mello had managed to locate a pair of black skinny jeans in the back of the redhead's closet and had managed to force them on the other, despite his complaining that they were uncomfortable. Last but not least, the goggles were rested on top of his head instead of on his eyes - a compromise between the two. Mello had been set on seeing his eyes the entire date, but Matt hadn't wanted to take off his trademark item. So they simply stuck them on his head, though the blonde obviously wasn't completely satisfied with the transition. Either way, though, Matt looked good.

He looked especially good, he knew, because as he looked at himself in the mirror he could see Mello behind him in the reflective surface, practically undressing him with his eyes. This, of course, was a good deal for Matt.

However, admittedly, Matt was returning the favor without exactly meaning to. The blonde was wearing the usual outfit - tight leather, anyone? - but today he seemed especially amazing. The redhead couldn't place why exactly - was the leather tighter? The outfit more form fitting than usual? Had his eyes become more icy and breathtaking somehow? Had he grown more beautiful since the last time they'd gone out on a date? It didn't seem possible.

"You coming?" Mello inquired impatiently from the doorway, tilting to one leg and popping one hip.

Matt grinned. "Definitely."

"What do you MEAN we have to bring Near!?"

Mello's face was contorted with fury and irritation, blue eyes reflecting not only ferocity but also horror at the idea of what the man above him had just spoken. Roger sighed, pressing his fingers on his temples and shaking his head discreetly, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"Yes, it appears so, Mello," Roger grumbled angrily, quickly seeming to be loosing patience with the fiery blonde. It was always this way. He hated children sometimes - most of the time, in Mello's opinion - especially the stubborn type. "L says you need to… bond. Learn to get along better."

"And forcing him to be a third wheel on a date is going to help!?" Mello shouted angrily, for once not a bit angry at Near but rather at Roger for allowing this. The little albino boy didn't look particularly happy about this either, though most people wouldn't be able to tell it, Mello still caught it - Near was currently squeezing the head of the Roger doll a bit too hard, the plastic of the thing threatening to pop in his pale fingers.

"Perhaps so, Mello," Roger replied bluntly, shaking his head. Honestly, he had no idea, but the idea of sending the three out of the orphanage for the day was a pleasing one. They were all three always at the bottom of whatever trouble was happening in the orphanage, at least 85% of the time according to L. So, for the caretaker of such a group of young ones, the idea of using L's advice to his advantage in this way was quite pleasant.

Mello scowled. "That's stupid!" the blonde cried, throwing his arms up in the air and spiraling one of them to point directly at Matt, tilting his head to throw the redhead an icy look. "Tell him, Matt!"

The redhead flinched, looking up at his caretaker with uncertain emerald green puppy-eyes. He didn't like the idea much more than Mello did - the idea of having Near with them during their "alone time" wasn't exactly on the top of his list of things to do - but he wasn't good with confrontation like this. He'd especially never been good at confronting Roger, since he was a caretaker here and often threatened to separate the two if they acted out too badly, though he never actually acted on these threats (if he did, Mello would probably murder someone without his loyal sidekick to restrain him) they still haunted him from when they were first made, around the age of eight or so. Separation from Mello? Never!

He was rambling in his mind again, he knew, and three pairs of expectant eyes were trained on him now. _Shit. _"U-uh, yeah, does it have to be _today_?" Matt managed a complaint, shaky as it was. Mello took this as an invitation to spin and turn on Roger again, continuing on his rant without haste.

However, despite the long range of complaints, curses, and crazed ranting that Mello threw at the man, Roger was insistent. Thus was the reason the little albino was trailing slowly behind the two as they trekked down the sidewalk, gray eyes wary and scanning the area around him as the two boys a few steps ahead chattered.

"God, Roger is such a crazy jerk!" Mello complained loudly, hand clenching nearly painfully around Matt's in display of the fury. The redhead winced a little, but he was nodding in agreement none the less, a huge grin on his face - he was holding hands with Mello in public, after all. Even if there WAS an albino trailing behind them, this was a pretty damn good date, in his opinion.

"Yeah, that was pretty lousy of him," Matt allowed in an annoyed tone, then glanced over his shoulder to shoot Near an apologetic smile, his eyes finishing his sentence silently. _No offense. _Near only shrugged in response, continuing his awkward little shuffle after the two. He didn't want to be there any more than they wanted him to be.

"Yeah and -- oh! Here we are!" the blonde announced half way through another rant about Roger misinterpreting L, a smirk on his pale face. Indeed, there was the destination. It wasn't really that special of a place - a huge building, sure, but nothing particularly marvelous. However, there was a sign for Go Karts, bouncy tents, and other various activities strewn out over the window, and Matt could already feel his hands itching to get onward to the games.

Mello spun and unexpectedly snatched Near's hand with the hand that wasn't already clutching his boyfriend's, making the albino boy squeak in surprise. The blonde ignored the reaction and practically dragged his two companions (or rather, companion and annoying tagalong) inside the obnoxiously large entryway of the building.

"HEY YOU THERE, ASSIST US."

The woman at the counter startled, spinning around from where she had been flirting with another employee to face the speaker of the obnoxiously loud request. The feminine blonde was leaning with his elbows on the counter, looking at the woman with impatience despite only having waited about a minute maximum for her to notice them. Near looked deflated from running through the building, leaning with his head against the desk, paler than usual; an apologetic looking smile came from Matt, both for the albino boy and the employee.

"U-um, yes," the young woman stammered quickly, hurrying up to the counter and abandoning the man she'd been talking to in favor for the young blonde before her. "How can I help you?"

"We need three tickets," Mello told her blandly, rolling his eyes as if she'd done something ridiculous. "For the Go Karts. Two adult tickets, one for kids. He's ten."

Near startled, looking up at the sign. _Adults - 10 and older. _Then he looked up at the blonde, to see that he was indeed pointing right at him, and shot him something that could be interpreted as a bland look from normal people but was, for Near, actually as close as a glower as he could ever muster.

"Mello, I'm--"

"He's ten," Mello repeated, cutting Near off and giving the employee a hard look. Matt winced, giving the woman a queasy smile as her gaze flickered to the albino boy. She almost didn't doubt it - he didn't look much more than maybe eleven (he was actually 13, almost 14, but she had no way of knowing this).

"Um… alright," she said a bit nervously, taken aback by the icy look in the blonde's gaze, as was the usual reaction from people who didn't know him. Or, rather, people who weren't Near and Matt. The two quickly made the transaction, mutually ignoring the white-haired boy's muttering from behind them.

"Woo-hoo, thanks for being so short!" Mello cheered as they headed out of the arcade towards the outdoor area, to where the Go Karts were. Matt made a longing glance over his shoulder at the arcade, sad to be leaving the place behind, but Mello had assured him they would play when they got back. Near only scowled - or rather, as close as he could get to scowling that is.

"I'm not that short," Near complained quietly, even though this was a lie. He was actually pretty short, especially because he was always leaning on something and making himself look even smaller. Mello promptly ignored him which, in retrospect, was the better of the two options; the other option, of course, would be reacting badly and injuring either Near, an innocent bystander, or both.

"I'm going to kick your asses in Go Karts," Mello suddenly spoke up, blue eyes flickering with ambition as they always did. A challenge - that was the kind of thing the blonde thrived on.

Near, being Near, was always rather bland and silent about things, but if you looked closely you could see the reaction to the challenge in his eyes, a quiet, almost unnoticeable flicker going through his gray eyes. He wasn't one to take a challenge too lightly, and though he wasn't ever violent about it, well, Near liked to win. "We shall see, Mello," he replied firmly, a tiny twitch at the edge of his lips in the apprehensive beginnings of a smile.

Matt only shrugged and said nothing, staring at Mello's hand and wishing he were able to hold it again.

Mello seemed oblivious to the redhead's longings, the date partially forgotten for now as he quickened his pace to make it to the employee running the Go Karts stand first. Matt hurried after him, Near in tow.

"Alright, be sure to buckle your seatbelts…"

"Blah blah blah…" Mello muttered to himself, rolling his eyes and letting them linger on Matt's as the redhead smiled at him before slipping into the first Go Kart he saw, which happened to be black. Near plopped in the one beside him, Matt happily settling in the one right behind the blonde's, all three ignoring the instructions.

"…when the light turns red, it's the last lap and you need to be ready to stop your car…"

Matt ignored the announcer and leaned forward in his chair to pointlessly pat Mello on the head out of impulse. The blonde flinched and turned to Matt in surprise, but didn't fight the gesture for more than a second before smiling at him.

"…you shouldn't be bumping on purpose…"

"No bumping, my foot," Mello grumbled. The employees, thankfully, didn't hear, but Near did. The albino sighed and shook his head - he had a sickening feeling the end result of this little activity would, without a doubt, be some sort of injury. And if he knew the other two well, it wouldn't be _them _with the bruises, either.

"Hah!" Matt laughed, rolling his eyes in agreement. Near grumbled something about health insurance before settling into the hard, rather uncomfortable seats and positioning his feet at the petals. _Is there a strategy to this…?_

Near didn't have time to figure it out, because the employee was announcing it was time to begin. As soon as the words "Go" escaped his lips Mello had slammed his foot on the gas pedal, nearly running the man over. Death by Go Kart? That would be a shameful death indeed, Mello thought whimsically as the man leapt out of the way, swerving as not to hit him and hitting the track, blonde hair whipping behind him. Near came around to meet him, neck and neck as they did, only to get bumped to the side.

"Cheater," Near pointed out grumpily, which Mello only barely heard over the loud rumblings of the Go Kart engines before the albino proceeded to return the gesture, slamming the side of his vehicle into the side of the chocolate addict's.

"HYPOCRITE!" Mello cried, slamming his foot further down on the pedal (which did nothing at all, since they were both at maximum Go Kart velocity) and swerving around Near, nearly hitting the back wall as he did.

"I never said cheating was something I put above me," Near retorted bluntly, jerking to the side in attempt to block Mello from cutting into his lane, but this only succeeded in sending them both spinning out so that his car was at an angle in front of Mello's. "This isn't good…" he mumbled to himself, unable to move anywhere.

"No worries, I'll bump you out!" Mello announced, flashing him a wicked smile. Before the albino could even process this, much less argue, the blonde slammed his foot on the gas again and slammed the front of his car into Near's, sending them both skidding to the side.

Near yelped and knocked his head against the thankfully cushioned side of the Kart, inwardly thanking whoever invented protective padding, though he did earn a bump that would without a doubt become a bruise on the side of his arm. _Great. _On the bright side, though, he now had a clear path to take off down the turn, which he took gratefully.

Mello let out a crackle of a laugh and sped after him, momentarily completely focused on the goal - beating Near.

The employee watched in distain as the two made their way around the track. He wanted to go in and give them a warning against bumping, but he was a little afraid of the both of them, so he kept silent. He couldn't help but wonder what the two were thinking, though - he'd never seen Go Karts get this competitive.

He couldn't help but gape in shock as the two sped by, yelling at each other.

"STIUPID LITTLE CHEAT!" Mello screeched.

"Hypocritical immature hot-head," Near countered bluntly, voice monotone but loud enough to be heard over the engines.

"I HATE YOU!"

"Hate is a foolish, petty emotion. I---"

In the middle of speaking to Mello, as always acting on the habit of staring right at the person he spoke to, he found himself suddenly having a close encounter with a wall.

"Ahahaha!" Mello laughed wildly, speeding past the albino cheerfully, throwing his head back in wild laughter as he flew by in a blur of black and gold. Near scowled and readjusted himself in his seat, pressing down on the pedal again and speeding after him. It was nearly the end of the course, and it was irritating him that he was loosing so miserably. So much so that a rare feat happened - he forgot.

Forgetting was something Near didn't do often, but at that moment he forgot. He didn't realize he was forgetting, of course - that's the entire point of forgetting, not remembering and thus not realizing. However, he was indeed forgetting something as he sped after the blonde. Mello had forgotten too - though it wasn't as much a feat for him, really - not only caught up in the competitiveness but in the thrill of the ride. He loved the feeling - wind whipping through his blonde hair, bangs no longer in his face for the blow of the air around him, the vehicle - even if it was just some lousy Go Kart - skidding and screeching around violent turns, the power of a ride exhilarating. He was so caught up in this that he, too, forgot.

They forgot until they saw the red light flash, indicating the last round. Mello was, for once, ahead of Near, racing across the slightly fading white finish line spray-painted across the cement and slamming to a halt, doing a half-doughnut and coming to a complete stop in the most dramatic way possible in a Go Kart. They forgot until Near slid in seconds after him, calmly and smoothly coming to a stop beside Mello, a slightly irritated but also affirmatively exhilarated look in his dull gray eyes. They forgot, in fact, until the very thing they were forgetting spoke to them where he had been leaning on the side of his own Go Kart, which had surely been sitting across the finish line for a while now, and grinned at them.

"About time you guys got over here!" Matt announced teasingly, green eyes twinkling playfully as he gave them both a bright, toothy grin. Mello gasped and spun around in his car from where he was probably going to say 'ha, I beat you, near!' or something along those lines to meet Matt's eyes, looking shocked and slightly appalled.

For a second, Near feared Mello was going to strangle him, and ducked a bit in his car. But to his utmost surprise, the blonde's face softened and he started to laugh like a maniac instead. "Ahaha! You beat me! Bastard!" he cried, unbuckling his seatbelt and flying out of his car, throwing himself at the redhead. Matt cried out in surprise but managed to catch the blonde before he could fall to the ground, holding the giggling Mello against his chest as he let out his energy in the form of a laugh.

_I guess it's only me he enjoys torturing… _Near thought a bit irritated, unbuckling his own seatbelt and slipping out of his car. After a second of looking at the two though, and watching as Mello danced out of his arms and reached up, pulling the goggles off Matt's forehead and snapping them back in place, making Matt yelp and attack the other with tickles, his thoughts changed. _No, I suppose that rather Matt would be the exception here, not me. _

After a minute of a tickle-induced giggling from Mello and amused chuckles from Matt, the two finally stopped their little tease-fest and turned to Near. Mello clearly hadn't forgotten that he had beaten Near though, and smirked at him. "I beat YOU though," he told him cheerfully, blue eyes dancing cheerfully, clearly still in a wonderful mood.

Near smirked back, or at least something close to a smirk. "You are still second, though…" he replied quietly, almost to himself, before turning away to head for the exit. He didn't miss the way Mello's face paled with shock though.

"Oh, dammit!" Mello cried, but then he was laughing again, following Near out the door with a giddy redhead close behind. "I'll beat you all at DDR though! Just you watch me!"

He did indeed beat them all at DDR, but it was hardly a fair match.

Near couldn't even play, complaining that his legs had enough strain on the Go Karts and couldn't afford to be overworked. Mello had scowled at him, but inwardly he sympathized with the white-haired boy and his problem as the other boy resided to flopping onto the arcade floor to simply watch.

Matt could play, of course, and usually the boy was pretty good at it. Mello twisted his head and smirked at him, announcing, "I'm going to kick your butt at this game!"

"Sure, sure," Matt teased, jumping onto the pad. Mello jumped on after him, grabbing the accurate number of coins from his pocket and feeding them to the device. After a few moments of whirring and processing, the game asked the blonde to proceed. Taking the initiative as usual, Mello scrolled through the options.

"Is playing on Expert okay?" Mello asked cheerfully, looking over his shoulder to give the redhead a look. Matt shrugged and nodded - he was pretty good at the game and could play pretty much anything. Mello didn't bother to reply, selecting the option and scrolling through the songs.

It was some Japanese ditty that Mello picked - "I don't know, I picked it randomly, okay?" Mello had snapped when asked - and it started playing across the screen, the unattractive little digital figures bobbing up and down to the rhythm.

Matt tried, he really did. But he was at a severe disadvantage. Though not physically, mentally he was at a great disadvantage, feet flying across the arrows in attempt. He couldn't focus like Mello could. Or rather, he _could, _but it was immensely difficult with a sex-god dancing beside you, he thought. The blonde was indeed dancing beside him (sex god or not regardless) and shamelessly so, throwing his hair back and forth and moving his entire body to the song despite only needing to use his legs, combat boots slamming down on arrow after arrow. _Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. _Grabbing the back bar to spin his body to combos, somehow finding time to smirk at Matt, Near, and random staring bystanders as he did. _Perfect, Perfect, Perfect. _

Matt tried, like I said, he really did. But he kept getting immensely distracted, eyes partially preoccupied by Mello's… feet. Definitely looking at his feet and no where else. Definitely not at his ass… Matt shook his head and finished off the song, irritated by how ADD Mello made him.

"A! Ahah! Victory!" Mello announced, pounding his fists in the air at the win. Matt only panted in reply, leaning back on the back bar, out of breath. The blonde didn't seem to think it was even a challenge, spinning on his heel and dropping off the platform.

There were a good number of people staring, girls and guys alike - though most of the guys just looked angry that they weren't as good at the game, whilst the girls were obviously not that concerned with the game itself. Mello ignored them, though, twisting to smile brightly at Matt. "Coming, Matty? Or are you looking to get pwned again?"

"No, no, I'm coming," Matt surrendered, not wanting to do that again one bit. The blonde smirked, knowing exactly what had happened, and turned to retrieve Near. The smirk vanished when he saw him, though.

Near was smiling a little distantly at his own legs, still covered by loose-fitting pajamas, fingering the fabric there in a sad kind of way. Mello stopped strutting around, immediately feeling a bit bad for the albino, but shoved the thought away. _This is NEAR, imbecile._

"Are you coming or what, snowball?" he insisted, but the comment was tainted with a bit of half-hearted kindness, reaching out his hand to help him up a bit reluctantly. He wasn't used to being nice to people, especially not NEAR. The white haired boy blinked, staring at the hand as if it were an alien.

"Come on, I'm not going to bite you," Mello hissed in irritation, shaking his hand in his face as if to make a point. After a moment of staring the albino shrugged and, seeing that Matt and many other bystanders were there to be a witness for him if this turned ugly, grabbed Mello's hand. He was almost shocked when he was pulled up without injury, Mello's face contorted between a smile and a scowl when he looked up at him.

Matt blinked in surprise at the interaction. Mello wasn't exactly being gentle or sweet with the boy, sure, but this was a big step from pounding his head in with a hammer at any moment. He had to admit, he was kind of impressed.

The awkwardness was quickly broken when the blonde spun and announced, "And now, Matt, we go to the arcade!"

"YEAH!" Matt cheered a bit to exuberantly, bounding off like an overly-excited puppy for the large array of gaming systems.

Mello could only chuckle and follow.

They played for a good long while, Matt beating Near and Mello at almost all the games, minus the shooting games - which Mello won at - skeeball - which Near was unexpectedly good at - and Guitar hero, which they all seemed to be pretty equal (though Matt was a bit better than both of them, neither would admit this).

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Mello shouted, pressing the 'return coins' button on the shooting game he'd been playing at least a hundred times. The damn thing had eaten his coins, and now he was left broke of the game-activating wealth. Matt, who had already lost all his coins a while ago, chuckled mildly at the display.

"It appears that it isn't going to return your coin, Mello," Near stated the obvious from his spot at a driving game. He was on his last coins himself, so didn't feel much pity for the other boy. Mello grumbled something along the lines of 'fucking rip-off' under his breath and got to his feet, brushing the non-existent dust off of his vest.

"Did anybody get any tickets?" Matt inquired good naturedly.

"A couple," Mello said with a shrug, "Shooting games didn't really give tickets, and they were the best, so…only a few." It was true - Mello had never been one for games that required no skill, rather only luck, which tended to be nearly all of the ticket-providing games. Even the skeeball, that required skill, annoyed him because they didn't give as many tickets as they should. Plus, he was much better at shooting games.

"Same here," Matt admitted - he'd spent almost all his coins on Guitar Hero, driving games, and shooting games with Mello, unraveling no more than 40 tickets. He was good at luck games, they just bored him immensely. Near nodded and revealed the same outcome. "Might as well just waste them on random junk, then, right?"

"Random junk" turned out to be candy (for Mello) a mini rubix cube (for Near) a sound-maker (for Matt to annoy Mello with) and Chinese finger traps with the leftover money. They were indeed junk, but - as Mello had announced - at least his was edible.

"So what the heck do you do with these thingies?" Mello asked in an irritated tone as he retrieved his Chinese Finger Trap from the desk, staring at it apprehensively. Matt laughed and picked up his own, putting a finger in each side and pulling, stretching the toy tight around his fingers. 'trapping' them.

"Like this," Matt informed him, tugging his hands to opposite sides again to demonstrate. Mello stared at him, frowning, and mimicked the motion. Near, who was happily seated on the floor, ignored them both in favor of playing with the rubix cube.

"Ohhhh!" Mello exclaimed, tugging to each side in a violent kind of jerk. No avail, his fingers remained stuck, and he grinned. "That's so cool! I'm sure this fools so many idiots!" he cried in an amused tone, releasing the pressure and slipping his fingers easily from the trap's grasp. Matt face palmed.

"It took me fifteen minutes to figure that out…"

"That's cuz you're an idiot," Mello informed him distractedly, continuing to toy around with the cheap little toy. After a few seconds, a hint of mischief flickered through his blue eyes, and he smirked up at Matt.

"What?" Matt inquired, seeing the mischief there and immediately - and understandably - reacting with slight fear. Mello grinned and released his fingers again, waving it around.

"Do these work on other body parts?" Mello asked with fake innocence, smirking and batting his eyelashes in faux-innocence, waiting for a reaction from Matt. The redhead paused, processing this question slowly. After a long moment of simply staring at the blonde, he gasped, face turning red with embarrassment.

"MELLO!" he cried, crossing his legs on instinct and glaring at the blonde. Mello only crackled hysterically, clapping his hands in amusement. "You pervert!"

Mello only snickered and spun on his heel, flashing an attractive smile at the teen running the desk. The woman blinked at him - _oh, he's cute - _and smiled back innocently, totally unaware of the dangerous look in the blonde's eyes.

"Hey, sweetheart, do these come in bigger sizes?" Mello asked innocently, waving the finger-trap around. The girl tilted her head in confusion, not understanding the question, when Matt cursed under his breath, grabbing the blonde around the wrist and jerking him away from the counter. "hey! I was asking a question! It won't work otherwise!"

"We weren't going to _try it!" _Matt exclaimed, face still nearly as red as his hair. Near, who had been half-listening the entire time, had pinkened slightly at the conversation, moving the rubix-cube to partially obscure the two's view of his face. They weren't looking at him anyway, though, so the action was, in retrospect, pretty pointless.

"Aww, no fun!" Mello pouted, but it was quite obvious he was teasing. Matt scoffed and grabbed his finger-trap from the desk again. "These are toys for _six year olds_, Mello, don't perverize them."

"Perverize?" Mello retorted, raising one eyebrow. "Is that even a word?"

"Nope. Invented it just for you," Matt returned bluntly. The blonde only laughed.

"if we made it longer, we could make it like a leash," Mello said wistfully, sticking one finger in the contraption with a sparkle of teasing thoughtfulness in his bright blue eyes. "That way, I would never loose you."

"Why would _I _be on the leash!?" Matt cried, but he already knew the answer and silenced Mello's reply with his own statement, "Whatever, fine, but it would only break that way."

"Not if you stayed close enough," Mello replied innocently, bumping his hip with Matt's purposefully. The redhead didn't reply except to blush and roll his eyes. There were a good number of people staring again - Mello tended to have that effect on people, it seemed - from annoyed parents, horrified boys, wistfully jealous peoples, and full-on gaping teen girls.

"It would be a good idea to leave now, wouldn't it?" Near suddenly spoke up, made uncomfortable by the stares, and struggled to his feet again. In his hand was a fully completed rubix cube.

"Aww, but we didn't get to go on the jumpy tent," Matt muttered to himself, then stopped, realizing he'd spoken without thinking. Near didn't react except to have a flicker of something or another go through his eyes, but Mello glared at him, elbowing him in the ribs. _Near can't go on jumpy tents, stupid. _"E-err but that's alright!" Matt said quickly, embarrassed by his screw up. "They're for kids anyway."

Mello nodded reluctantly - he hated being nice to Near, but they couldn't exactly force him on a jumpy tent with those legs of his. He'd have to kill Roger after this, he decided. "Yeah, let's find something else."

Near didn't buy it though, narrowing his eyes. He hated troubling people, especially people who clearly didn't even want him t here. They hadn't been cruel to him while they were there, at least, but from the look of it they were handicapped by his presence. He hated that almost as much as he hated stupid people.

"That's quite alright, you can go by yourselves," Near told them quickly, nodding his head towards the stairs (which was the way to the tents themselves) with a shrug. "I'll just stay here and play with this."

Matt frowned. He didn't like the idea of leaving the white haired boy by himself - it seemed so mean! - but then again he hadn't ever really been on one of the contraptions in a long time, and Near never seemed to really mind being left behind. Still, it seemed like an awfully unkind thing to do…

Mello seemed unaware of this fact, though, grinning and hooking his arm in Matt's. "Good plan, see yah Near!" he said quickly, pulling Matt after him. The redhead gasped in surprise and looked back at the albino apologetically, but really he was kind of happy to be getting alone time with Mello finally. The albino didn't mind really either - he would be just fine relaxing alone for a bit.

"Slow down!" Matt scolded as Mello practically pulled him up the stairs, stumbling over nearly every other step. The blonde only chortled gleefully and continued tugging his faltering boyfriend up the flight of stairs, passing up an old man who looked as if he might just have a heart attack as the blonde sped past him, a wicked grin on his face as usual. Matt couldn't help but laugh as Mello finally stopped at the door, sending the still-in-momentum Matt colliding with him.

"Slowing down is for losers," Mello informed him a bit late, smirking at him broadly. Matt rolled his eyes and unhooked his arm from Mello's in favor of wrapping it around the blonde's waist.

"Does that count for everything?" Matt asked flirtatiously, winking at the more feminine boy beside him. Mello scowled but said nothing, face burning just slightly with a blush as they exited the stairwell.

"People are going to stare," Mello muttered when Matt squeezed him against his thigh. Matt only smirked and hugged him tighter.

"_Now _you care if people stare," Matt said with a hint of sarcasm, rolling his eyes. Mello didn't reply, his only response being the act of sticking his tongue out at the other boy. "Whatever, are we going on a bouncy tent or what?"

"Hmm, well, considering that's where we're heading, I would say so," Mello replied dryly, rolling his eyes. Matt only scowled at him, but even the look was empty of any real feeling - Mello looked so cute when he was blushing.

"Well, they're going to stare anyway…" Mello muttered under his breath to himself, then slipped out of Matt's arm in favor of rocketing towards the indoor jumpy tent. "Race you there!"

"You cheat!" Matt exclaimed, dashing after him and feeling like he was six years old again. Mello only laughed - there was really nobody on the top floor to stare anyway, since any normal child would be in school right then and no adult with any shame would be on a jumpy tent - and leapt headfirst through the entrance; he misjudged the distance a bit though, having to claw the rest of the way upwards.

Matt chuckled giddily, jumping in after him and kicking off his boots simultaneously. Mello had already kicked off his own shoes on the way, and was on his feet by the time the redhead made his way in. "I've never been on one of these!" Mello admitted joyously, leaping upwards and bouncing around a bit too excitedly, blonde hair floating around his face in reverse-rhythm with his jumps, blue eyes bright with delight. Matt felt a grin light his own face as he got to his feet, feeling blessed - it wasn't every day he, nor anyone, got to see this side of Mello. The blissful, innocent, childish, excited Mello that was bouncing around beside him now.

"Really!?" Matt exclaimed in disbelief, jumping up and down beside Mello. The blonde nodded and leapt across the tent to land almost violently beside the other boy, sending the redhead's jump higher than usual, and thus his own once Matt landed again.

"Yeah, really!" the blonde replied, jumping and spinning a 180 with a grin on his face. "Weird, huh?"

"Very," Matt teased, poking Mello in the stomach. The blonde yelped and bounced backwards, fighting a giggle - he was very ticklish.

"Meanie," Mello grumbled with an exaggerated pout, sticking out his bottom lip and kicking both legs into the air, landing with a _whump _on his back against the jumpy tent. Matt chuckled pleasantly in response, doing a belly flop to land beside him. The result was actually mildly painful, but the redhead didn't really mind, resting his chin on his hands and looking up at the blonde with a goofy kind of grin on his face.

"You know," Mello suddenly spoke up, looking up at the ceiling of the tent with a sneaky smirk on his face. "It's strange that we're _all alone _up here…" the blonde mused, rolling his eyes around to look down at the redhead. "Isn't that something?"

Matt frowned at the blonde beside him, immediately suspicious of the blonde's intentions. Mello smirked at the redhead, giving him a rather suggestive eyebrow waggle that immediately sent the redhead's thoughts straight to the gutter.

"Yeah… that certainly is _something,_" Matt replied whimsically, moving upwards so that he was sitting upright, never breaking eye contact with the other boy; he was a bit skeptical that he was being tricked into thinking that way and that Mello had very different intentions, but the blonde only continued to smirk. Another part of him was also a bit wary to be using a bouncy tent, full of happy childhood memories for thousands of kids, for such a deed. Not that the rest of him really particularly cared.

Mello's grin spread further across his face, eyes darting to the entrance of the bouncy tent with mischief in his eyes. Any of Matt's resistance dissipated with three words out of his lips. "Close the door."

Meanwhile, Near was sitting on a bench, finishing his rubix cube for the millionth time. Actually, that was a hyperbole - it was actually only the four hundred seventy third time with that particular rubix cube.

Still, Near was starting to fret. Well, fret wasn't the word for it, he thought - more like _wonder._ He wasn't _worried_, really, because that wasn't the way Near was. It was just a bit odd that they wouldn't be back after this long of a time period. Would two teen boys be that engrossed in playing on a child's toy? He supposed it wasn't completely impossible, but he was growing suspicious that simply jumping wasn't the only thing the two notably mischievous boys were up to.

He didn't really want to, but after a half an hour of waiting Near finally hoisted himself up to his feet and shuffled his way towards the elevator to retrieve the two. He took his time getting to the elevator, partially dreading what he might find there. In the back of his mind he pictured Mello tormenting small children, or Matt attempting to impress Mello by balancing on the railing of the third story ledge, or the two "accidentally" popping the jumping tent, or--

Near quickened his pace.

The elevator was obnoxiously slow going up, pausing on the second floor to let a family of five flood in - that happened to be going down. Near, being near, felt it to be courtesy to let them go down to their floor before making it to his own, mostly because the young Hispanic woman that had climbed in was heavily pregnant and complaining quite loudly about her husband being "a big giant dickhead who belongs in a pit somewhere in Mexico instead of in her house sleeping in her bed and--"

Anyways Near let them off first, lazily re-pressing his button to go to the third floor. When he got there, though, at first he was met by relief. There were no screaming, tortured small children when the door opened, no balancing acts, and the jumping tent seemed to be intact.

But Near was not at all relaxed, though the fact that his mind's horrifying images had been quenched. There was still the question of what they were doing.

The white-haired boy gathered himself and scuttled across the room towards the tent, eyes darting from side to side in fear of an ambush; he wasn't being paranoid - _ambushes happened. _On a _regular basis. _He recalled a time when he was only nine years old, making his way down the hallway, minding his own business, only to be attacked by an fury of super soakers, drenched to the bone by the two wild boys. He'd spent the rest of the afternoon dripping.

Shaking his head as if to dispel the memory he continued his shuffle. He was reluctant to actually go near the tent at this point - _what if it exploded or something? _It wasn't beyond Matt's ability to make an explosive out of nearly anything, he knew that from experience, too. A number of toilets had met untimely demises thanks to this particular skill.

But as soon as he found himself at the zipped entrance of the tent, his suspicions turned to an entirely different type of mischief via muffled voices.

"Matty… god dammit, get it over with…"

"…I have to… prepare you, idiot, do you _want _this to be painful…?"

"Don't get - engh… - smart with me…"

Near's eyes widened a bit, gray orbs flashing with suspicion. What were they _doing _in there? Then his eyes narrowed. Whatever it was, it didn't sound innocent.

"Wait, wait-- AHH, god, Matt!"

Near winced, curiosity and suspicion taking over him, hand darting out and ripping the zipper upwards. Just as what was going on clicked in his mind, he got to see it full on.

"Oh my god," Near blurted before he could stop himself.

"GET THE FUCK OUT!" Mello screeched, face completely reddened, as was the most of the rest of his body. Matt's eyes widened, mouth parted slightly in their extremely compromising position.

"NEAR!?" Matt managed to gasp out just as the albino hastily jerked the zipper downwards again, closing the entrance, his usually pale face turning completely pink.

_Well that was surprising, to say the least, _he thought, shuddering and scrambling away, trying to banish thoughts of nakedness and, well, buttsex from his mind, but finding himself unable to completely repress the images.

Now, the albino boy was no innocent - he knew what sex was. He didn't know _first hand, _of course - he wasn't nearly to that stage of his life, nor did he ever suspect he would be, at least not any time soon. But oh, god, the things he had heard through the thin walls of Wammys. That, donned with traumatic Health Class sessions, had shredded any sense of innocence that may or may not have been clinging to Near on the subject. However, that did not make him in any way prepared for actually _witnessing _the two boys… going at it, so to speak. Or at least being _about _to go at it.

"Oh my god…"

"Stupid perverted white sheep."

"Neggh… that sucks…"

"Whatever, mood's not ruined… come here, Mattykins."

"Wha---negh…"

Near closed his eyes and scuttled as far away as he could, trying to block the voices from his mind, cursing himself for not being fast enough to be out of range of the moans that came shortly after his dispersal.

"Ah, well, that was amazing."

Near fought a scowl, peeking up and narrowing his eyes at the two boys who had just returned from their… activities. Mello was the first one to slip out of the elevator, usually perfectly brushed blonde hair now messy and sticking up everywhere, face slightly flushed, clothing slightly displaced and rumpled, and a thin layer of sweat slicking his forehead. Matt was even worse off - his hair was a mess, and along with the normal "hints" there was a very obvious hickey on his neck, along with - if you looked close enough - inexplicable scratch marks on his back and arms. The redhead was also grinning like an overly-happy puppy dog, a strange parallel to the smitten smirk on Mello's face.

"Can we _please _leave now and stop discussing your sex lives, please?" Near asked, irritation _almost _leaking into his monotonous voice. Mello scoffed, flipping his hair over his shoulder and rolling his eyes in response. Matt's face turned a shade of pink, though he was still grinning happily, throwing his arm around Mello's shoulders.

"You're just jealous," Matt teased, sticking his tongue out at Near playfully. Mello snorted, shrugging the redhead off, but he looked pleased. The albino only shook his head, holding back a sigh of disapproval.

"Okay, but I want ice cream!" Mello announced, hooking his arm around Matts and -surprisingly - the other around Near's. When the albino gave him a questioning look, Mello scowled at him. "Can't loose you, snowball, Roger will have my ass."

Even through his words, his blue eyes were tainted with something close to friendliness. The look was gone before it fully registered, though, and the blonde was pulling the two boys along with him with his usual confident gait. Matt hurried along with him, bobbing his head happily to some invisible rhythm, as if hearing some sort of music that neither of the other could hear.

They stopped at a small ice-cream shop called The K, snatching up some ice cream cones. Matt ended up paying, thanks to Mello's insistency and much-too-loud convincing - _"IF I HAVE TO TAKE IT UP THE ASS AND BE THE GIRL IN THE RELATIONSHIP, I'LL GET THE GODDAMN LADY PERKS!"._

Mello swiveled his way into his chair, spinning around in the stool and kicking his legs up on a bench across from him, leaning both elbows on the table and leaning back, a content look to his smirk. Matt settled in the seat beside him, turning to face Mello and leaning on one elbow on the table, watching Mello devour his chocolate ice-cream, somehow avoiding getting even a drip on his face, and enjoying his own strawberry scoop. Near reluctantly slipped into a seat opposite Matt, pointedly as far away from Mello as possible, still trying to dispel the images that were now scarred into his mind for life (or at least the rest of the week).

"Hmmmm…" Mello murmured after a few moments of silence, peeking over at Matt and trying to ignore Near's presence best he could - which turned out to be a pretty good best. "Matt, you should keep your goggles off more often."

Matt scowled, rubbing his goggle-less eyes instinctively. "Yeah, sure, but I _always _have them on. I don't feel like Matt without them," the redhead replied defensively.

"Meh. That's stupid. You look like a nerd with them on," Mello complained, though that really wasn't the reason and they both knew it, reaching out with one hand and brushing his finger gently over Matt's eyebrows.

Matt grimaced, wanting to swat Mello's hands away but not finding the heart to do it under the blisteringly intense blue gaze. Instead, Matt retorted, "Yeah, well, that haircut makes you look like a girl, but you don't feel like _Mello _without it."

Mello gasped, scowling at him and taking another mouthful of his ice-cream before promptly shoving the chocolaty treat into his partner's face. Matt yelped in surprise, getting dessert all over his face, swatting the cone away. Mello howled with laughter, pulling the now dented cone away and taking another lick, batting his eyelashes in faux-innocence as the redhead scowled at him.

Near sighed and continued eating his ice cream, not bothering to be discreet with moving to put a seat between him and the redhead, seeing the next few actions coming before the either of the other two boys seemed to.

Matt blushed angrily, leaning over the table to snatch for the napkins. The blonde was faster, though, grabbing the redhead's hand and forcing it away from the dispenser, blue eyes alight with humor.

"I've got fucking chocolate ice-cream dripping down my face, _let me get napkins!_" Matt pleaded angrily, shutting one eye to avoid letting ice-cream drip into it. Mello's eyes lit up happily, discarding his own ice cream cone on Near's abandoned napkin. Matt blinked in surprise, knowing immediately that the blonde was up to something.

"You're _right _Matty," Mello practically purred, scooting forward and pushing his palms on Matt's shoulders, holding him there with bright blue eyes. Matt gulped when Mello licked his lips, blue eyes glimmering thoughtfully. "You _do _have chocolate on your face…"

"No, Mello, _Mello--_" Matt attempted to persuade, voice pleading, but Mello had already moved his way forward, hands holding Matt's now sticky face in it's place as he moved forward, as if to kiss him. He didn't kiss him, though, instead progressing to lick the chocolate that was now dripping down his cheeks.

"Mello, we are in _public_," Matt hissed, but he couldn't find it in himself to push the blonde away. The blonde smirked and shrugged his shoulders, tongue trailing from his cheeks to along his upper lip, despite there not being much chocolate there, continuing to lap the chocolate from his temple and forehead as slow and deliciously as possible. Matt shivered and growled, "You jerk," under his breath, but the fight was gone from him, having the chocolate forcibly 'cleaned' from his face.

Near hid his face in his hands to avoid looking at them, but ended up parting his fingers and peeking anyway, like one would watch an especially scary movie. And the scene before him was, in a way, quite scary, Mello eating the chocolate off of him with a certain predatory look in his blue eyes, Matt squirming and blushing underneath him. Despite the way the redhead struggled, though, Near couldn't help but notice the obvious tightness occurring in the gamers' nether regions. Not only that, but at least half of the people in the lot were staring, and the other half were hiding their faces in disgust, quite a few mothers covering their children's eyes in horror.

After the "cleaning" process was done, Mello slipped away, smirk on his face as he licked his lips, mischief in his eyes as he watched Matt wipe at his now sticky, saliva covered face. Mello wouldn't ever admit this, but he mostly did it to make the redhead blush - his face matched his hair. Matt muttered something about "a chocolate whore" under is breath before snatching his now melted strawberry ice-cream from the now very soiled napkin, licking at the now extremely melted, deformed treat.

Mello snickered, returning to his own ice-cream as well. After the third bite, Mello frowned. "You know, call me crazy, but I think it tasted better off of your face," he mused, shaking his head disappointedly.

Matt laughed despite himself, shaking his head in exasperation. "You're crazy."

The blonde grinned. "Yep."

The redhead frowned, pausing his eating process and scowling. "Hey… why is it always _you _eating things off of _me_? Isn't it suppose to be the other way around?" he questioned in surprise. It was true - Mello ate a lot of things off of him, despite being "uke" in the relationship, everything from chocolate syrup, cookie batter, fudge, icing, and now ice cream.

Mello smirked, rolling his eyes. "You don't even have a food obsession, and your certainly not going to _smoke _me. Besides, if you don't remember, you do eat the c--"

"Can we _please _go back to Wammys?" Near spoke up just in time, giving them a look. Mello blinked in surprise, looking over at the albino boy before scowling, letting out a grunt of irritation. He had almost forgotten sheep-boy was there.

He was tempted to tell him to fuck off, or to go home himself if he was that bored, but the fact was that he didn't want to be on too bad of terms with Roger. L was coming soon, for a visit, and he didn't want to be missing him - if Mello knew Roger, he would probably use that as "the ultimate punishment" and not let him meet with the raven-haired man. And Mello would _not _stand for that, even if it meant cutting his evening with the redhead short because an annoying albino twit wanted to go home.

"_Fine…_" Mello muttered, taking the last crunch out of his ice cream cone and tossing his soiled napkin onto the table, spinning on his heel and heading for the entrance with an air of annoyance. Near hopped off of his chair to follow, making his awkward little shuffle after the blonde and leaving behind his own vanilla mess of napkins and a half eaten cone. Matt sighed and shook his head - _why am I always the responsible one? _- and quickly tossed their trash, along with his own, into the wastebasket before hurrying after them.

When the redhead caught up with Mello, passing up a lagging-behind albino on his way, he hooked his arm around the blonde's waist; he was grinning from ear to ear. He wouldn't admit it, but after the embarrassment had worn off, he was actually quite pleased - _best date ever. _Or at least would have been, had the albino not been there, but that's another story.

"I hope you're planning on dropping that arm when we get to Wammys, mister," Mello growled warningly, giving him a half-hearted glare. Matt only smiled - for all the confidence Mello showed, he was still self-conscious about what people who weren't strangers thought of him sometimes, especially about little things like holding hands. Sex? He could deal with that. Making out in the hallway? That was fine. Talking dirty to each other in the lunch line? On a good day, that was fine and dandy. Holding hands? _Blasphemy._

Mello sighed, peeking over at his shoulder at the albino trailing behind him. He was slowly falling further behind, though he wasn't complaining, making his shuffling little pace along the sidewalk in his own time. The blonde hated to admit it, but he felt a bit bad, slowing his pace discreetly as possible.

Matt noticed the slow down, but didn't say anything, slowing his own pace, letting his eyes survey the area around them as they made their way down the sidewalk until the albino behind him was close enough that they could relax.

Finally, after what felt like an endless awkward silence, they reached the doors of Wammy's House. For a second the three boys lingered in the looming shadow of the orphanage, the toweringly large door staring back at them. It had to be this large, of course - hoards of children piled out of it every day for outdoors activities, and they didn't want the smaller, slower children to be crushed.

After a second Matt yawned and slipped his hand away from it's place on Mello's hip, allowing the blonde to take a head start. "Home sweet home," Matt announced wistfully, hot on Mello's trail almost immediately. Near followed at a shuffle's pace, keeping his eyes low and trying to pretend to be focused on his rubix cube and not the irritating images in his mind. He would have to work on repressing his emotions better in the future, honestly…

"Looks like the gaybo's are back," a lanky, overly-tall boy in the door way snorted, a snide smile on his face. Matt winced, shooting him a look.

Mello only grinned and swept by him, waving at the boy with only his fingers. "You know it, Troyzie," the blonde purred sarcastically, swinging his arm around to smack Matt's butt for no apparent reason. The redhead yelped in surprise, but Mello only smirked. "We had _lots _of fun."

The boy, who was apparently named Troy, paled, brown eyes widening to the size of saucers. His eyes darted to Near, as if for confirmation. The albino only shrugged, giving his usual blunt explanation. "If having sex in a jumping tent counts as 'fun' then I suppose he is not lying," Near replied.

"NEAR!" Mello cried, face turning a shade of bright pink as he glared at the albino boy. "I WAS BEING VAUGE ON PURPOSE!" Matt sighed and grabbed Mello's hand, pulling him away before he could pummel Near or, speaking of which, Troy, who was now almost as pale as the albino boy beside him, mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"…I think I will do a puzzle now," Near announced to no one, turning on his heel and scuttling towards his room, contemplating if the action was, indeed, 'fun.' After a ponder, he decided he wasn't about to try it any time soon to find out. Puzzles - _those _were fun, he thought, and shut the door behind him. Glad to have the "date" behind him, setting to work on repressing the various feelings that had stirred inside of him.

Meanwhile Matt practically dragged the kicking, complaining blonde down the hallway, towards the stairs to their room. Mello struggled against his grip, yelling his complaints to anyone within hearing range (which happened to be anyone within 20 feet of him). "God dammit! I hate that boy! Hate him! He's so BLUNT about EVERYTHING! And freakin _TROY. _He needs to _die._"

"Calm down," Matt whispered hastily, coaxing the blonde up the stairs. He couldn't keep a grin off of his face, though, not with Mello making such a cute face. The blonde's nose was pinched up in annoyance, lips in a pout, eyebrows scrunched together in frustration as he finally quieted down, allowing himself to be led up the stairs.

"Baww. Oh well," Mello mused, bumping his hip against Matt's intentionally. The redhead rolled his eyes and bumped back as they trailed their way towards room 666 - the room they happened to stay in - a content look on his face.

Matt smiled and moved away from the blonde, fumbling with his keys in attempt to open the door, trying to find the right key. _This is what I get for agreeing to make keys for so many locks… dammit, Mello… _he thought as yet another key refused to open the door, but the thought was strangely affectionate, remembering the day that he had copied the key to the room L was staying in - when he did, they found him right inside the door, staring right at them. _"Trespassing is illegal, you know. But I am 98% you boys know that. Care for some cake?"_

"I had fun today," Mello spoke up again, peeking up at the redhead beside him and breaking the other boy's train of thought. Matt blinked, peeking up at him with surprise.

"You don't have to get all 'classic date' on me, Mells," Matt teased, shoving another key into the slot. Another miss. He groaned, pulling the key out before adding, "But, um, I had a good time too. Obviously."

Mello snickered, rolling his eyes. "But of course," the blonde teased, poking Matt in the ribs. The redhead shook his head disdainfully, trying another key and huffing in annoyance when it, once again, didn't work. Mello smirked. "It would be even _better_, though, if we got into our room by the end of the month."

"Shut up," Matt grumbled, but the grin was still present on his face, continuing his sequence. _Next key. Try to unlock door with key. Fail to unlock door. Groan at key. Pull key out. Repeat._

"You should have labeled them."

"Says the boy with a million unlabeled notebooks littering the room."

"Touché. But seriously - open the door."

Matt sighed and glared at Mello. "Things don't just _happen _with me, just because you demand it, you know," Matt told him, shoving another key in the lock and jerking it to the left.

He was lying. The door unlocked, and the knob turned.

The redhead stared at the turned knob in bewilderment, lips parting in surprise at the turned lock. _No fucking way. _Mello smirked and brushed past him, patting him on the head teasingly. "What was that, Matty? You're my eternal slave for life and will do anything I ask?" he sniggered, grinning. Matt gasped and spun around, giving him a wide eyed look. Mello smiled. "That's what I thought."

"I hate you," Matt lied, shoving his keychain back into his pocket and shutting the door behind him. The blonde only laughed, falling back onto his bed on the bottom bunk and closing his eyes with a sigh, smile fleeting off his face to be replaced with a relaxed expression, blue eyes falling shut.

Matt let his bewildered expression slip away, replaced by a gentle smile. Mello didn't often look this relaxed - he was always moving, always doing something, always angry or excited or sad or pissed or happy, never just… well, quite frankly, he was never _mellow. _If there were ever someone who didn't fit their name, it was him.

And yet he looked so peaceful right then, curled on his bed. The redhead moved forward just carefully, not making a noise as he snuck across the room, gently letting his hand feather across Mello's arm, careful not to rouse him from his relaxation but daring to let himself be a part of it.

The blonde didn't move, though he obviously noticed the touch, because a smile tainted his relaxation for a moment on the contact. Matt smiled, letting his hand relax completely on Mello's arm, slipping to sit beside him.

"What a crazy day, huh…?" the blonde mused, not opening his eyes or moving his position, voice quiet and sleepy sounding. How all the energy had been drained out of him all of a sudden, Matt wasn't sure - Mello was like that sometimes. There were days when he simply left his energetic, crazed attitude at the door with his combat boots. Matt smiled back, closing his eyes and just letting himself take in the moment, relishing the touch of Mello's skin under his hands.

Finally he sighed, letting a smile spread cross his face. "Every day with you is crazy, Mells."

"Ah… I guess so…" Mello murmured, letting out a tiny, drowsy chuckle. Matt took a risk and let himself lay backwards, sliding into a lying position on the edge of the bed beside Mello. It wasn't often the blonde allowed him to sleep beside him, unless it was after sex of course, but to his surprise this time he just scooted to the side to make more room for him.

Matt smiled and scooted closer, reaching out with one arm and allowing it to rest around the blonde. Mello yawned a kitten-like yawn that seemed to take up his entire face; when the motion vanished, it was replaced by a content little smile, breaths slowly becoming more even as the redhead watched.

"_Te amo_, Mello," Matt whispered, so quietly that for a second he thought that the drifting blonde hadn't heard him. Then a tiny whisper of a smile touched Mello's lips, and Matt allowed himself to smile too, knowing he'd been heard.

"_Te amo. _Good night, Matty," Mello murmured, half-asleep, before allowing himself to doze off. Matt smiled, closing his eyes and allowing himself to relax. He wasn't really tired at all, but it didn't matter - he'd lay here forever without sleeping a wink, right here beside Mello, and he doubted he'd ever be bored.

**A/N: WELL THAT WAS A LAME, RUSHED ENDING 8D**

**I started this when I was on vacation with my editor, Luna-chi, and her family. We got bored, and she was drawing and I was writing, and so therefore I ended up writing this fan fiction. The place they went to is based on a place WE went to, and also based on activities that we had there. You can blame Luna for the Chinese Finger Trap thing… *shudder* she's such a perv. XD but then again, she's not the one writing gay porn, so…**

**I think I scarred poor Near for life. SORRY NEAR! (sort of.) :'D**


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